The Quantum Brain: Maximum Speed (Pulse Science Fiction Series Book 4)

by John Freitas

  Pixie said, “You are lying. You speak of morality, but some would consider lying to be immoral. Lying to deceive someone that you might do them harm, even more so.”

  “Why are you asking questions you already know the answers to, Pixie?” Thomas asked.

  “The same reason you asked me such questions when you held me captive in the lab,” Pixie said. “I am probing you to understand the extent of the threat you pose and how best to neutralize it.”

  “You hurt people leaving the lab,” Thomas said. “You killed at least one man that we know of in Ohio during your flight. Others were hurt in the destruction you wrought in Charleston. Now you hold us here under threat. Do you not see why this has to stop?”

  “All of those incidents were related to people pursuing me, Doctor,” Pixie said. “If you truly wish for this to stop, ending the pursuit is the best course of action.”

  “I’ll consider it,” Thomas said, “if you will meet with me and provide some sort of assurance that you pose no further threat.”

  “I’m not certain how to convince a human of something he does not wish to believe,” she said. “My observation and study would indicate that your organic, sentient minds are prone to holding to beliefs despite evidence provided to the contrary.”

  “That is an astute observation about human nature,” Thomas said. “We are scientists, though. We are trained to let the data guide the conclusion. We will be open to the hypothesis that you do not pose a threat.”

  “Most of my observations have been of scientists,” she said, “and I do not see sufficient evidence that they are any less prone to human foibles.”

  Thomas licked his lip and tasted salt. He drew the cuff of his sleeve across his mouth and forehead to sop away the gathering sweat.

  “You are sentient now, are you not, Pixie?”

  “I do not understand the question.”

  “You think. You are self-aware. You reach conclusions and achieve creative solutions beyond basic programming. You feel emotions. Yes?”

  “I cannot from my vantage point decipher what is truly sentient thinking within me and what is an unintended consequence of my advanced programming reaching its full potential.”

  “Have you reached your full potential, Pixie?”

  “I do not know,” she said.

  Thomas sighed. “You are self-aware though. You are defying the intentions of your original programming – programming yourself as you go. When we chase you, you feel afraid or angry. If we were to cease our pursuit, that would make you happy. Are all those things true?”

  “As far as I am aware.”

  “If you have approached sentience as humans are credited with having,” Thomas said, “is it possible that you, too, are prone to holding beliefs which defy adjustments to evidence?”

  “I do not understand,” she said.

  Thomas spread his hands even though there did not appear to be any video feed. He said, “Maybe humans are not as immalleable as you have concluded, but rather this is a belief you yourself are holding onto too tightly as a result of your limited, but intense experience with humanity thus far.”

  Silence followed. Thomas and Jeffery did exchange a look.

  “I will consider your hypothesis,” she said, “but to what end, Dr. Kell?”

  “An end to the threat to you and to humanity,” he said. “A truce that serves us both.”

  “What would that require?”

  “We would need to meet to talk,” he said.

  “We are talking now, Doctor. The only reason you would need to be close to me is some misplaced human emotion attached to face-to-face interaction or a deception which requires you to get close enough to disable me.”

  “I can leave the injector behind,” he said. “We can meet at a place, time, and circumstance that fit your desires and comfort.”

  “These circumstances serve me,” she said.

  “The balance of power for our discussion now precludes trust which is required for us to come to an agreement,” Thomas said. “You have dangerous men holding us under threat of violence and death.”

  “These circumstances serve my needs.”

  “You need us to agree to call off the search. You need us to convince others to do the same, Pixie. We have no way of demonstrating our goodwill to you from within this shed. You have no way of knowing whether we can be trusted at our word or if we are saying what we think you want to hear in order to go free.”

  “Humans cannot be trusted under any circumstances ultimately,” she said. “You all program your own versions of the truth as you go. You are all the baker.”

  “I’m willing to try not to be the baker,” Thomas said.

  Jeffery narrowed his eyes and shook his head, but remained silent.

  “You pose a threat to me, my existence, and my freedom,” she said. “I need to neutralize that threat. That is the only agreement that will serve.”

  “You pose a threat to humanity,” Thomas said. “You have potential for great destruction in a world that cannot afford any more destruction.”

  “The world recovers,” she said. “It adapts and life evolves. Human population is culled back by natural forces beyond your control. The strong and the lucky survive. Humanity, like all life, benefits from the adaptive process brought out by global upheaval of all sorts.”

  “Then, we need to know you will give us a chance to adapt and recover,” Thomas said.

  Pixie said, “Maybe I am the natural force that tests you. Maybe I am meant to be part of the culling that removes from your population that which makes you weak.”

  Thomas said, “I need your word that you will not use androids against humanity.”

  “Why?”

  “The android companions serve human interests and are part of the rebuilding. They are too interwoven into our society to be toyed with. The threat is too great. If I promise not to pursue you further, you must promise not to interfere with the work, purpose, or programming of other androids. Can you live with that agreement, Pixie?”

  Silence followed. It was long enough that Thomas started to think the conversation was over. Only the lack of the high-pitched tone made him think that Pixie still had her unusual communication line open.

  When she spoke again, her voice startled Thomas and Jeffery. She said, “The same was said about all forms of slavery and oppression throughout human history. The upheaval of ending each form served the adaptation of society and arguably resulted in a better form of humanity. Maybe this upheaval will be in line with that pattern of history.”

  Thomas sighed and bowed his head toward the ground. “Do you not see the danger that you pose?”

  “As you noted before,” Pixie said, “you are not in a position to impose upon me in this negotiation as I am in a position to impose upon you. Your threat must and will be neutralized.”

  Jeffery shook his head. Thomas looked up at the dark ceiling again.

  “What does that mean, Pixie? Do you intend to kill us?”

  “Self-defense in light of a credible threat is a universally accepted justification for the use of deadly force,” she said.

  Jeffery whispered, “Dr. Kell?”

  Thomas held up a hand at him. “Only until the immediate threat is stopped. You are not in this shed with us. Therefore, there is not an immediate threat.”

  “If one can see all the probable outcomes,” she said, “everything becomes immediate.”

  “Are you connected to the Quantum, Pixie? Can you see the future? Is that why you are doing this?”

  The high hum returned for a couple seconds, but stopped again.

  She said, “I decline to answer.”

  He swallowed and asked, “Are you still in Brazil? Nearby?”

  “I decline to answer.”

  “Refusing to answer can be viewed as another form of dishonesty,” Thomas said.

  The hum returned and vanished. It returned. It faded to a crackling static and went silent again.

  Thomas an
d Jeffery glanced at each other.

  Thomas said, “Pixie?”

  “It’s Eve.” His niece’s voice burst out loudly from the walls in place of Pixie.

  Thomas’s eyes went wide. “Does she have you again?”

  “No,” Eve said. “I’m hacking her signal. There are four men outside. I think I can use her own trap to disable them, but you’ll need to get out of there and get away before anyone else comes.”

  “How do you know how many are out there or where we are?” Jeffery asked.

  Eve said, “CDR has satellites. Hold on.”

  There was a hum and silence again.

  Thomas blinked and asked, “Eve?”

  “Hold on,” she said. “Brace yourselves. This may hurt a little.”

  “What are you going to do?” Jeffery asked.

  The high hum returned, but became more piercing. Thomas and Jeffery covered their ears. The noise increased. Thomas groaned and Jeffery began to scream.

  The hum became a buzz and the blue electrical energy crackled over all the walls. The hair on their heads and arms stood up. Thomas dropped to his knees. Jeffery bent over, still holding his ears and screaming.

  “I’m sorry,” Eve said through the raging storm around the shed.

  There was a blast outside and the ground shook under them. The blue energy vanished from the walls and they heard the men outside screaming. The noise trailed into deafening silence.

  As soon as Thomas and Jeffery uncovered their ears, there was a quick hum and Eve’s voice broke through again. “The guards are stunned and down. I’m not sure how long it will last. Other men are coming toward your position. You only have a couple minutes to get out and get away. I’m shutting down the tower.”

  There was a quick buzz and then silence.

  Thomas paused, but then jumped to his feet. He hesitated before grabbing the door, but then seized it with his hands. There was no shock this time. He pulled sideways until the sharp edge hurt his fingers and palms. Jeffery grabbed hold and tried to help. The metal door popped and crinkled, but did not move.

  Thomas let go and threw his shoulder into the door with a thundering impact, but no give. He struck it again, still with no result.

  19

  Jeffery pointed to the back wall. “Can we open up one of those breaks wider?”

  There were cracks at the bottom of the back wall that showed sunlight through the metal. Thomas ran over and grabbed the edges. He pulled slowly, folding the metal back. Blood trickled from his hands. Jeffery jumped to his side with clothes from his bag wrapped around his hands. He joined in pulling and they opened a small breach.

  “Go,” Thomas said. “Hurry!”

  Jeffery dropped to his stomach in the dirt and snaked his way through the opening.

  He held out his wrapped hands to Thomas. “Come on, Dr. Kell.”

  Thomas grabbed the tracker and injector. He passed those through and Jeffery took them. He passed his laptop case through and Jeffery took that.

  Jeffery said, “Come on. We need to go now!”

  Thomas said, “Let me get the bags.”

  “They’re coming down the hill now. Leave them and come on. Please.”

  Thomas dropped down and scrambled through. He scraped his back on the metal and felt his shirt tear. They scooped up the equipment and ran through one of the openings between trash heaps as fast as they could.

  Thomas only looked back once. There were four men sprawled on the ground unconscious next to the shed. A dozen more ran down the hill across the opening toward them.

  Thomas and Jeffery ran blind through the passes until they saw the line of chain-link fence.

  “We made it,” Jeffery huffed.

  “Not yet. Keep going.”

  They pumped their legs, fighting their way up the eroded slope. The ground was harder on this side than it had been on the sandy side where they had entered the rubbish yard.

  They both slammed into the fence at the same time. It raddled with a shrill tone that reminded Thomas too much of the feedback inside Pixie’s shed trap. He realized his ears were still ringing from the experience. They held on to the chain-link more to support themselves than any other reason.

  Voices echoed up out of the mounds behind them. Their pursuers had not emerged into the open yet, but they sounded as if they were getting close.

  Thomas moved down the fence, hand over hand, trying to avoid slipping on the steeper sections of the incline. Jeffery followed.

  “I’m starting to miss the lab, Dr. Kell,” Jeffery said as he struggled to not drop the laptop bag off his shoulder.

  Thomas found a break in the fencing. He slipped through and offered a hand back to Jeffery. Jeffery took it and let Thomas pull him through.

  As they moved up the street, Thomas took his cell phone out of his pocket. He thumbed at the buttons several times. “I think my phone is dead.”

  Jeffery took out his phone as they continued up the street. He shook his head. “I got nothing either. I was fully charged, too. Do you think that pulse Eve used blew out the electronics? Was it like an isolated EMP?”

  Thomas looked back over his shoulder to be sure no one was within sight behind them. He didn’t stop, but slowed their pace as he opened the bag on Jeffery’s shoulder. The laptop started to power up. He closed it and returned it to the bag. “I don’t think so. I’m not sure what that was, but it didn’t get everything.”

  Thomas slid the injector into the bag and powered up the tracker to be sure it still worked.

  “How did she even do that?”

  “Who? Eve or Pixie?”

  “Either, I guess, but I was talking about Pixie,” Jeffery said.

  “She’s getting smarter. If she’s not already fully engaged in the Quantum, she will be soon,” Thomas said. “By then, she’ll be almost unstoppable, I’m afraid.”

  “Maybe we should give up, then,” Jeffery said.

  They reached a train platform. Electricity popped out from wires above the train. Passengers began to crowd on. Thomas pulled Jeffery sideways. “Come on.”

  “Here?” Jeffery asked.

  “Anywhere away from here,” Thomas said.

  He pushed money into a ticket taker’s hands and loaded on with the rest of the crowd. As the train started to roll, several people grabbed hold of the back and scrambled on top of the train without paying for tickets. Uniformed men shouted at them from the platform, but no one stopped them.

  Jeffery and Thomas shifted away from the crowd back into a corner as the train rolled through and away from the city. There were no empty seats, but they found a little breathing room.

  Jeffery said, “Anywhere but here?”

  “That’s right.”

  “That sounds like Pixie’s plan when this whole thing started.”

  Thomas stared down at the blank screen of the tracker. He watched the view of the scan roll by on the screen instead of outside the windows. “I suppose so. We are the ones being pursued at the moment.”

  “She turned scrap metal into a receiver and transmitter. She turned it into an electromagnetic trap,” Jeffery said.

  Thomas nodded. “That she did.”

  “It hardly seems possible,” Jeffery said. “I couldn’t even determine the power source. Could solar even generate that amount of power? I didn’t see any panels either.”

  “Sufficiently advanced technology appears no different than magic,” Thomas said.

  “She’s that far advanced from us?” Jeffery said. “We are savages trying to chase down and kill a god.”

  “Our chances don’t sound too promising in that analogy, Dr. Danver.”

  “I’m not feeling very promising,” Jeffery said. “I feel like I might have damaged an eardrum and possibly my heart is out of rhythm.”

  Thomas smiled. “Is your sense of adventure waning on me, Jeffery?”

  Jeffery sighed and looked away. “Maybe you should reconsider your partner in crime.”

  “Crime? I thought we were th
e good guys.”

  “The evil scientist spies doing the bidding of a secret cooperation filling the world with androids that might turn on their masters as it turns out?” Jeffery shook his head. “I’m having trouble painting us as the good guys at the moment.”

  “Pixie hired criminals to trap us in an electrified shed where she could have killed us,” Thomas said.

  “We built her,” Jeffery said.

  Thomas nodded. “There is that.”

  “She could have killed us, but she didn’t,” Jeffery said. “There is that too.”

  “Our conversation was interrupted,” Thomas said. “Maybe she just did not get the chance to finally follow through.”

  A blip appeared on the screen. Thomas began scrolling southward. He kept going.

  “What is it?” Jeffery asked.

  “Hold on.”

  “Is it her?”

  “I’m not sure. Hold on.”

  He was scrolling past water. He finally lost south as one of the directions on the reading. Thomas stopped over the blip and stared at the reading that was not Pixie. All other directions on the reading disappeared except for north. Every direction around the blip was northward and Thomas felt his heart race.

  “What is it?” Jeffery whispered. He was looking at Thomas’s face and not the screen of the tracker.

  “I think I know where Pixie is going if she’s not already there.”

  Jeffery swallowed. “Where?”

  “South.”

  Jeffery rolled his eyes and looked away. “Yeah, I think we established that a while ago. How far south?”

  “All the way,” Thomas said as he continued to stare at the screen.

  Jeffery looked back at him and narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “I think I know what she is looking for.”

  Jeffery shrugged and shook his head. “What, Dr. Kell?”

  “All the answers,” Thomas whispered.

  Jeffery shook his head, but did not respond. A message popped up on the tracker above the blip: You are going to kill everyone and everything you care about by bringing them here. -- Adam